The present invention relates to a digital hydrometer and methods of digitally displaying a specific gravity measured by a hydrometer.
A hydrometer is an instrument used to measure the specific gravity (or relative density) of liquids; that is, the ratio of the density of the liquid to the density of water. A traditional hydrometer is usually made of glass and consists of a cylindrical stem and a bulb weighted with mercury or lead shot to make it float upright. These analog hydrometers are typically very hard to read, because the numbers and scales on these instruments are very small and closely spaced.
Traditional hydrometers are currently used by hemodialysis clinics to measure the specific gravity of acid concentrate when a batch of dry acid concentrate is prepared at a clinic. The patient care technician or nurse that prepares the batch of dry acid concentrate has to verify that the specific gravity reading given by the hydrometer is within pre-determined acceptance criteria in order to accept or reject a batch. Therefore, it is critical to the process that the hydrometer readings are taken correctly, accurately, and precisely.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a hydrometer that allows for more accurate and precise measurements of specific gravity, in particular, for measuring the specific gravity of a dialysate, acid concentrate batch.